The 2006 Big West Co-Player of the Year, Kylie Atherstone, continued where she left off last year as she guided the Cal Poly Mustangs to a 1-1 mark in the Holiday Inn Downtown Classic, which included a tightly-contested five-game loss to No. 3 Penn State. For her efforts, Atherstone was named Big West Player of the Week, the fourth honor of her career.

In the 3-2 loss to Penn State, the Chico, Calif., native collected a team-high 25 kills, one shy of her career high, and posted a .276 hitting percentage. Two days later in the 3-0 win over Creighton, in front of a NCAA regular-season record crowd of 13,081 fans, Atherstone tallied a career-best six service aces. She also recorded 17 kills and 10 digs.

The junior outside hitter was the only Cal Poly player to post consecutive double-doubles at the tournament. Over the two-day span, she led the Mustangs in kills, kills per game, attempts, aces and digs per game.

The Mustangs conclude the Holiday Inn Downtown Classic Monday afternoon when they take on No. 1 Nebraska. Following their midwest matchup, the Mustangs travel to Northern California for the Stanford Invitational where they will continue their run of top 20 competition. Cal Poly opens the three-day event Thursday afternoon against No. 9 BYU and is schedule to play No. 2 Stanford Friday and Saint Mary's Saturday. The match against the Cardinals will conclude the Mustangs’ stretch of playing four of five contests against top 20 teams, which included the top three teams in the country.